Innocent
by CSSLZT13
Summary: How low would you set your standards to acquire some money? [Rated R for Language.]


Amidst the late afternoon traffic confusion that consisted of one enormous throng composed of with exhausted employees of various occupations, all unconsciously taunting her with their boast of employment, Elena managed to shove and push her way through them once again, and possibly for the last time, to arrive at her comfortable apartment within one of Junon's several labyrinthine districts. Her mind was clouded with both content and irritation from the events that had transpired earlier in the day.  
  
As she looked around her rather compact yet organized domicile, smiling significantly mechanically at her obsessive compulsiveness displayed so conspicuously before her, Elena recalled the distasteful situation earlier that had driven her here hours before her shift was supposed to end: After serving nearly three months' worth of guard duty down at the docks, all of the condescension and ostracism she had endured for too long had culminated into a bloody mess an hour or so ago when one of the lieutenant admirals attempted to take advantage of her in the locker room while changing. She had only beat on him enough to leave him lying in a puddle of his own blood and tears, clinging onto a single thread of his life, before she stormed out of there with an enraged mindset.  
  
The seemingly drawn-out stroll back to her apartment allowed Elena enough time to contemplate over the morality behind her decision to employ the same prerequisites necessary for her ideal occupation on this unlucky sap. Found that she would much rather conflict with the chauvinistic complications that would result in her eventual arrest warrant, than to allow herself to become the victim of some moron's hyperactive hormones.  
  
This meant that, for the first time in years, Elena would be force to pick up and assemble a hasty withdrawal from the city. Just knowing this put the widest grin and the most joyous sentiments within her conscious conscience. Having to leave this odious city and alter her identity for the umpteenth time was beginning to fill her with an immature joy that bore recurring memories of good times past. She tried her hardest to calm herself down, but the attempt was in vain, as she noticed herself bouncing about her soon- to-be-evacuated home, preparing for permanent departure.  
  
In her cursory madness for coveted preparation, Elena barely noticed the flashing green light and '01' on the answering machine sitting so quietly, appropriately adjacent to the telephone. Probably Reno again, another one of his cheap endeavors to win a night with her most likely. One of these days, she figured she was going to have to take him up on one of his offers for a 'good night out' and literally knock some sense into that thick cranium of his, though she wondered if that would influence any affect into his mindset at all...  
  
But to Elena's surprise, it wasn't the arrogance and vulgarity that Reno's voice attained, but it was the monotony and succinctness of Rude's own, that she heard. "Hey, Elena," it started. "It's Rude. I've got a job opportunity for you. Real easy but you might not like it. Call me on my cell if you're interested. You know the number."  
  
That was definitely Rude. Always terse and indifferent. Elena always knew how those two adjectives alone were sufficient enough for their former occupation of Turk.  
  
After giving almost no regard to whether or not she should respond to Rude's message about this supposedly detestable job or ignore him and just leave already, Elena chose to pick up the receiver for the telephone and let her memory dial her comrade's number, already imagining what kind of job is base enough that even Rude would dislike it. Probably another bodyguard stint; God knows how idiotically stupid their subjects could be sometimes. Possibly security crap, though she wondered if that could be that disgusting at times. Or even worse, maybe the 'easiness' behind this job was actually a stealthy sign of prostitution, heaven forbid--  
  
Within three seconds, Rude answered on his end. "Elena?" he asked listlessly.  
  
"Were you expecting my call?" she replied, the nagging desire to discover what new job Rude had taken still gnawing away at the back of her brain.  
  
"Almost. I figured you would still be hungry for a job. You managed to catch me on my break. Still want to know what I've got for you?"  
  
"Actually, what I want to know is why I may not like it."  
  
"Because it involves the phrase, 'Would you like fries with that.'"  
  
Around the exterior of her head, Elena's desire for discovery immediately transgressed into utter disbelief with that previous utterance. Not being able to believe her ears was a severe understatement. After hearing that sentence emerge from the telephone, from Rude's mouth, she actually considered cutting her ear off as a punishment for allowing that heretic statement entry into her head in the first place. Never in her complicatedly interminable lifetime did she ever think, consider, predict that Rude would actually lower his standards to seek for work in a God- forsaken, fast-food restaurant!  
  
Or maybe, it was her brain pulling an immoral prank on her patience. Maybe after all of that time, searching for any careers that could suit her arcane skills while exhausting her energy at work that always remained stagnant and bleak, her every source to continue within her subconsciousness now gone acidly dry--all of that could probably be her own psyche telling her to just relinquish all of the optimistic hopes her young age allowed her to carry of ever landing the perfect profession and commence her lifestyle anew, but with a common existence. A simple one.  
  
Elena decided that she would discover right now if whether what she had heard was an auditory illusion or not. "Are you serious?" she asked. The response should affirm her answer, she considered.  
  
"Yes, I'm serious."  
  
"But... why? Why in the hell did you ever even consider taking a job in a restaurant? There are so many other jobs you could have chosen, so why in God's name did you take up a career in fast food?"  
  
Rude chose then to suddenly proliferate his vocabulary to an extent for a lengthy rant. "You must realize, Elena, how burdensome it is to find a profession suitable for the abilities we utilized as Turks. You are more than aware of the complete collapse of the Shin-Ra corporation after the meteor incident nearly disintegrated the world over two years ago, and you know damn well they were the only ones who required our skills. Since then, you have kept coming back to me or Reno and bitch about how difficult it has been for you to locate, let alone acquire a profession that will satisfy your insatiable need to kill at will." That little unknown factor about Elena caught her emotional defenses off-guard.  
  
He continued regardless. "Lately, I've been considering if this persistent quest for the perfect career has been worth this torment, and I have finally realized that, no, it hasn't been. So I've decided to give up looking for that ideal profession for the time being and find an easier one, one that doesn't require as much effort to produce the necessary quota to live on."  
  
Damn Rude. Damn him and his undeniable intellect. He had obviously planned to tell her all of that before she had contacted him. Elena yearned so much to contest to that, but she was mindful of the fact that she could never triumph over Rude when it came to verbal disagreement. Still, there was one certain factor about his sudden change for a frugal lifestyle that bothered her. "But why have you chosen to work at a restaurant? You could have taken a job as, I don't know, as a cashier or even a custodian." It seemed very much bizarre how the possibility of janitorial employment appeared that much more desirable than fast food to her.  
  
Rude's speech took a sudden relapse into simplicity. "Pay's all right, and the patronizing isn't really any worse that what you should be used to. Besides, I had to start somewhere."  
  
Elena remained tacit about her response. She still couldn't decide on which emotion to represent her reaction verbally and whether it should be false or heartfelt.  
  
Rude continued on, but with his improved vocabulary again. "Listen to what I am telling you, Elena. While Reno may wish to endure your chronic nagging for the fleeting possibility that you'll sleep with him for one night, I will not. I am sick and fucking tired of listening to you whine about how hard it is to find a job that you like, while there have been many others that have passed you by. Now, what I am offering may not be the opportunity of a lifetime, but at least this is a secure job. You'll receive your meager salary every week, on the designated time, and while it may be very demeaning, it's solid, which means you won't lose it unless you or some other external factor seriously fucks it up."  
  
Elena was still confused about how she should accept this recent turn of events over the phone. She wasn't sure if she should feel insulted that Rude reminded her of the extent to which she complains, or defeated knowing that Rude had proven his point yet again. She chose to speak with her instincts instead. "But I don't understand, Rude." She noticed how her voice had grown light, audibly and tonally--a sure signal of how Rude had affected her young composure so. "In all of the time I've known you, you've always been unrelenting in your ways. And now, you're just gonna... give it up?"  
  
But Rude himself could not tell. "Look, I know that it seems unlikely for someone like me to concede under the pressures of normalcy, but until something more tasteful comes my way, I'm afraid I have to. If I want to stay alive, I need to be paid, and if I have to assist overweight statistics to further their imminent demise by way of a greasy cardiac arrest in the Gold Saucer, then so be it."  
  
Elena made an attempt to reply, but a familiar feeling chose at that moment to ease itself into her throat and become lodged there. She knew this feeling. This was the same one she had experienced after learning she hadn't qualified in the first nor second year for enlistment into the Turks. The exact sentiment she could recall descending her mind into emotional disarray after discovering her unemployment that had followed the cataclysmic disaster that nearly befell upon the planet. Recollecting how painful her interior tasted, knowing that four years of rigorous effort and disheartening results would be for naught just weeks after transforming her dream into a reality, began to chew rapidly through her neck, and the agony of it was threatening to enforce wild amounts of sobbing into her. It took all of whatever strength her mind would allow her to borrow to prevent even the smallest ounce of a sound to emit from her mouth.  
  
Though, it appeared as if Rude could see her on the other end, trying not to give in to her inexperience at dealing with shifts malevolent to the situation; in actuality, he could hear her attempts at silence fail with the muffled whimpers she was vocalizing over the phone. She was sure that he knew as he continued to speak, but in a somewhat calm and soothing voice. "Shit... I know this must be kinda hard on you, knowing I'm now employed as a fast-food cook, but... Damn... This is just a transitional phase, that's all. It's only temporary, until we can find something that... we can hold on to, you know?"  
  
Of course, Elena could recognize the inexperience underlying Rude's lame attempt to raise her spirits--the intermittent curses and frequent pauses in his language exposed this. But knowing now that he was kind enough to be capable of the desire to cheer her up, a quality she knew that hypocrite Reno or that pussy Reeve didn't possess in them, was sufficient in restoring her twenty-four years of blissful innocence.  
  
The fact assisted her in gathering her composure once again as she finally replied, "Yeah, I think I have an idea. Where did you say you were again?"  
  
"At the Gold Saucer. I'm staying at the little town in the mountains. You know, the one with the trolley that leads to it? It's grown a bit over the past couple of years--why, you considering joining me?"  
  
"Well, I just screwed up my job here in Junon, so I figure I'll need a place to stay."  
  
"Don't tell me you gave another guy a serious beating again."  
  
"You know me--dangerously volatile and helplessly naïve."  
  
"Well, then, I guess I should expect to see you soon, huh?"  
  
"Just make sure to save me a medium soda when I get there."  
  
"I will."  
  
And with that, the two terminated their long-distanced conversation and put down their phones. Elena rotated her head in a fluid fashion, memorizing the mental notes her mind was jotting as to what factors of her paraphernalia organized around her would be suitable for her travels soon. Simultaneously, she thought about how she would go about getting to the Gold Saucer and realized that departure through way of helicopter would be impossible, as the city's employees should already be alerted of her arrest warrant. This meant that she would be forced to foot it all the way there, though she considered herself in enough shape to reach the amusement park in a couple of days.  
  
Her mind began to recollect the path that she would have to take to reach her destination. The knowledge of Junon's architecture she retained should prove to be more than useful when sneaking onto one of the numerous cargo ships bound for the sun-coasted resort town. One night there, then there was the hardship of a pilgrimage through the mountains she would be required to undertake. She supposed that she could arrive at the scorching little town in only a couple of days--fine by her declining standards.  
  
Setting out to cluster the few accessories she would need for the journey, Elena meditated upon the preliminarily absurd notion of taking up employment in a fast-food restaurant. She knew very well that Rude was correct about his decision concerning their recent quandaries regarding currency. As the seconds passed, the disgust she originally held with that occupation was rapidly succumbing to realism and ration. It may have seemed at first that the threat of living in destitution was distorting with Rude's own ration, but now that he had provided his explanation for his actions, she could now comprehend the reasoning behind them. She supposed that it was messing with her mind also, but hey--at least with this job, if it eventuates into something similar to her primary opinions, there was always the option to quit, an option inaccessible to her prior profession. And to her fortune, it was located within the Gold Saucer--if worse does come to worse, she could also satisfy that immature desire that lain dormant within her to work inside of the Wonder Square with Reeve and his fortune-telling scam. Yeah, that would be nice...  
  
After those few seconds of decisive contemplation into the approaching future, Elena grabbed what few items she would take, walked into the bathroom, and stared through the ventilation shaft above the latrine, having few second thoughts over the decision she had made. It would be difficult, of course, to just leave all of her personal possessions behind in order to begin a less convoluted lifestyle, one that wouldn't be painted with blood and bullets, but she reminded herself that her lifestyle would be flooding with that in a few minutes if she didn't leave, and now. She was aware that it was the innate greenness under her skin that had provoked the violent choice earlier, but she figured that... It may have been for the better. Maybe she might find more satisfaction in making others smile in joy. Maybe she might like serving unappetizing food to aggravated customers, aware that the biggest danger she would probably endure would be if Rude shoved her face into the cooking oil--and God knows she's been ready for that.  
  
With an eager drive controlling her emotions, Elena stood on top of the toilet and removed the screen from the ventilation shaft to begin her trek to the Gold Saucer, actually looking forward to being able to spend some time at the amusement park. 


End file.
